User Ratings & Reviews

A dry American chocolate is prominent. My Bottle from Capone’s. The aroma is terrific. Bittersweet chocolate taste. A little thin. Still a dessert beer and. Dark brown body with a little head and lace. Needs more caramel and also hops would not hurt.

Another chocolate beer, this time a stout from Penn Brewing. It's brewed with pale, caramel, chocolate and roasted malts; and artificially flavored.

Let's use a question and answer format to review this one:
- So if it uses artificial flavoring, does it taste artificial? No, it actually tastes very much like bittersweet chocolate and dark fudge brownies. I find no defect in that area.
- Is it sweet? Yes, but not overly so. I'd personally think of this as more of a dessert beer, but at the same time it does actually work as a chocolatey stout... it doesn't become cloying.
- Is it roasty? It is, but that takes a back seat to the sweeter caramel and chocolate notes. However, that roastiness is part of what allows it to dry in the finish as it's not really that bitter.
- Would you drink two (or more) in a row? I would probably not, but I probably could. Some of the chocolate beers I've tasted are great at the start but then become a bit much halfway through the glass, and I don't find that here. The more I taste it, the more of the stout side comes out (probably because the roastiness is building in my mouth). At the end of the glass I'm completely satisfied. It's satiating.
- When would you drink it? I think it would make a great beer following a Thanksgiving or Xmas dinner, or almost anytime during winter as a slow, relaxing sipper. And, of course as a dessert beer. I really think that's where it would shine as it's really neither too sweet or too bitter. Plop a small scoop of soft vanilla ice cream into your glass and you've got an instant ice cream float!
- Can you cook with it? I haven't tried it, but of all of the chocolate beers I've had I'd certainly imaging that it would work.
- Overall? Unless you're against chocolate beers, or dark beers in general, I'd suggest you try it just to see. It's far from an everyday beer, but you might be surprised by it.

The bottle backlog continues to present beers that simply perplex me as to their origin. I am willing to bet that this one came to me from my local, in-person trader, tone77. I like Penn Brewery, but I just cannot envision myself buying a milk chocolate stout.

This beer acted in quite a curious manner! I used a heavy hand to generate both a pseudo-cascade as well as two fingers of bubbling light-tan head with really lousy retention. The head became rocky and fell away to wisps in seconds! Color was a dense, deep, dark-brown (SRM = 44) allowing zero light penetration. Nose smelled like, well, like milk chocolate! Truth in advertising strikes again. Man, but this really smelled sweet. Speaking of truth in advertising, the mouthfeel was a real letdown. It was not lush or creamy, but more towards thin and watery. The taste was quite sweet, very much like milk chocolate and since that is what they were striving for, I have to give them props. For this self-avowed hophead, however, it was a definite one-and-done.

The color is dark brown like hershey syrup with thick dark shade and translucent with thin cream head with small bead. the smell is very chocolatey -lots of sweet cocoa almost like a Hershey bar with a real dessert quality in the aroma. the feel is good, moderately roasted and semi sweet with a moderate carbonation level and moderate sweetness with a balance of roasted and light bittersweet creaminess of cocoa with mild astringency of dark grain.

The taste is very good with a nice balance of roasted malt flavor with a mild cocoa flavor accenting that with some sweet characteristics and light tannin with a slight bitter element in the background, but not overboard pretty well balanced for the style. Overall I enjoyed this it has a nice level of chocolate in the taste without sacrificing the base style of stout and the abv is at a decent level - it is almost like drinking a hershey bar.

At the Sharp Edge Creekhouse awhile back from notes, dark black chocolate color with tawny brown highlights light mocha tan head, dwindles pretty quickly. Nose is full of syrupy sweet chocolate notes with a good amount of creamy lactose inspired fullness. Flavor wise it was straight up dusted chocolate (I guess Godiva) creamy milk chocolate/syrup notes rise and flow. The dark malts don't offer much balance just a wave of unrelenting sweet chocolate, with a mild herbal hops in the back end. Mouthfeel was medium bodied with a bit of cloying sweetness most of the time, I had a rough time getting through this one definitely glad I went for a half pour. Overall Penn shouldn't be straying from their German origins, until you nail Penn Dark back to the original formula I don't care if you can churn out Velentine's chocolate infused beer.

Update Bottled version on 3/5/14

Appears pitch black in the glass, forms fine speckled tan lacing after the head dwindles down. The nose is pleasant dark roasted malts, salted caramel, milk chocolate Hershey's kisses. The dark roasts and herbal hops just slip through to the senses in the background amongst all of the dessert qualities going on. Flavor dark chocolate roasts, more salted caramel, Hershey's chocolate syrup it's overtly sweet semi bitter finish from the darker roasts malts and chocolate additions. This years seems less harsh on the palate, and dare I say more balanced. I made the cry for them to get their base German beers back to top shape before experimenting with American style dessert chocolate beers I guess they don't want to listen. Mouthfeel is a bit cloying with sweetness, residual sugars and dark roasts collide, carbonation works no real complaints. Overall, back to the basics is much needed get me some original recipe Penn Dark and I forgive all other abominations.

Poured from a brown 22 oz. bottle. Has a black color with a 1 inch head. Smell is of roasted malts, chocolate, a bit of smoke. Taste is chocolate, roasted malts, not to sweet, flavorful. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall I found this to be an enjoyable beer.

Penn Brewing "Chocolate Meltdown", Brewers Reserve as it says ontop of the barrel.

Appearance: Pours a dark brown in color, little head of a light brown variety.

Smell: Chocolate, of all types. Dark, milk and raw. A pleasing malty cocoa nose that is very aromatic and fairly strong.

Taste: Chocolate, light roasted barley/malt. Almost like an irish dry stout with chocolate added. Pretty tasty, sessionable and not overly strong as far as alcohol is concerned.

Mouthfeel: On the lighter side of medium bodied, a tad thin and watery.

Drinkability: A nice respectable brew from Penn. A lot different from most of their other offerings and definately in the craft realm. The body needs to be more full, and carbonation is a bit low. Ok but not great.

Damn this beer has a bad rep! It to me almost drank like a Imported Guinness but with less hops.

A - Pours a nice jet black, no real brown with no light shinning through and with the nitro I think I got more head than I deserved with at least two inches of it. Love how nitro pillows the head but it seemed kind of rushed with this one quickly turning to dark creamy tan head that took 5 minutes to settle down.

S - As I wait for the head to settle I took a sniff and get mild roasted malts, creamy chocolate syrup and slight cocoa powder.

T - I have a strong reason to believe most of the roast flavors in this beer was embodied in the foamy head. As soon as I get to the beer I get a mild lactic sourness with dry cocoa powder that turns to creamy thick syrup like chocolate and a mild twang of bitterness that rounds the creamy finish.

M - It did have a pretty medium body. Smooth.

Overall I can see why some would hate this beer a bit as I got half way through the glass the flavors got kind of boring and one dimensional (pretty much lost the roasted flavor) But it was very smooth and I could see they had a solid attempt at appeasing my love for a chocolate flavored beer. Pretty nice beer.